SS. ARCHELAIS, THECLA, AND SUSANNA - 18 JANUARY

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY

Saints celebrated on the 18th of January

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

SS. ARCHELAIS, THECLA, AND SUSANNA, VIRGINS AND MARTYRS

The Christian maidens Archelais, Thecla, and Susanna, natives of Italy’s Romagna region, fled to the Italian city of Nola in the hope of escaping the persecution under the Roman Emperor Diocletian (284-305).

THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS

Having consecrated her virginity to God, Archelais devoted herself to prayer night and day and mortified herself with penances. Many are said to have been cured of their infirmities by her prayers.

THEY WERE ARRESTED BY THE PAGANS

Ultimately the three maidens were arrested by the pagans. When summoned before the proconsul Leontius, Archelais debated with the magistrate, defending her faith and refuting the idolatry of paganism. Leontius then ordered her to be exposed to lions, but the animals refused to harm her.

"BELIEVE WHAT I SAY TO YOU"

Afterward, Archelais invited the proconsul to embrace Christianity, telling him, “Believe what I say to you; believe in God the Father almighty, and in Jesus Christ his Son, who created you, and has illuminated the hidden places of darkness, and has manifested himself to all the nations.” In the end, Archelais and her fellow virgins Thecla and Susanna were beheaded in Salerno (c. A.D. 293)

ETERNAL HOPE, LIFT UP MY EYES

“Eternal light, shine in my heart;

eternal hope, lift up my eyes;

eternal pow’r, be my support;

eternal wisdom, make me wise.

Until by your most costly grace,

invited by your holy word,

at last I come before your face

to know you, my eternal God.”